When British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) said, 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics', he may have been dealing with data on boys' school achievement. Deciphering facts from the figures can be tricky.
The tendency is for the media to present global or aggregated data, based on whole group performance, which sets the 'average' boy up against the 'average' girl, ignoring how performances are spread or clustered within either group.
A more detailed multivariate analysis can be gained from disaggregated data allowing us to compare groups based on different variables such as poverty, locality and socioeconomic status. Global data is handy for headlines, but of little use to school communities seeking a detailed understanding on which to base action.
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and the Arts) 2002.
